Welcome Home
by lanthir1
Summary: Hawkeye's granddaughter has returned from Iraq and is welcomed home by the living members of MASH 4077.


Disclaimer: Don't own MASH and never will. I don't own the army or Iraq. So to anyone who thinks I own anything of value; you've been severely brainwashed.  
  
**_This story is dedicated to all of the soldiers in Iraq and especially my best friend Andy. The army pronounces CSH as cash._**  
  
Hawkeye waited anxiously at the door waiting for his granddaughter to return home. Today was the day that Alice came home after her long deployment to Iraq. He had never approved of her joining the army but he had learned to live with it. Alice was no longer the little girl he used to hold on his lap and tell stories about war. She was a young doctor who now had her own war experiences from Iraq. It had scared him silly when he had heard that she was going to be deployed again. But she was returning to her family safely and that was all that mattered to him right now.  
  
The rest of the living MASH gang had come to Crabapple Cove to welcome Alice Pierce home. She was the continuation of the MASH legacy. After Alice had finished high school she immediately had joined the army and went on to medical school and became a member of the 31st CSH (Combat Support Hospital) stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas. And then the doorbell rang.  
  
Alice opened the door to find all of her Grandpa's infamous friends sitting in the old living room. By the card table sat Trapper John and BJ who were Grandpa's favorite prank partners. She remembered the story that he had told her about when Trapper and BJ had met for the first time at a reunion. They had stuck up an automatic friendship and spent the rest of the day torturing poor Frank. Charles had first met Trapper through a very unfortunate prank that he had meant for Klinger. Let's just say that Trapper hadn't appreciated it very well. We won't go into details. Alice continued looking and found Radar, Klinger, and Igor playing a familiar game of poker. It was so typical of those three to squabble in a heated game for hours. Margaret sat beside her husband of 30 years comfortably giving Alice that look of support for joining the army all of those years ago. It had helped Alice's conscience to know that at least one person from her Grandpa's old unit had supported her decision to enlist. A very old Colonel Potter sat on the couch by the coffee table thinking. He was always thinking especially since he had outlived so many of his former troops. There were faces missing of course, Father Mulcahy, Charles, and Frank had died years before. And then there was the lingering sadness of Colonel Blake's loss of life.  
  
"Welcome home Alice." Hawkeye said as he embraced his granddaughter for the first time in 20 months.  
  
"It's good to see that you've come home alive baby girl." Trapper shouted from the nearby table.  
  
"I never thought that I would live to see the end of Vietnam or the Cold War. And now I'm greeting a soldier from Iraq. Welcome home Alice." Colonel whispered in her ear as he hugged her lightly.  
  
"So what was like over there?" Asked Igor.  
  
"Hot. It was always hot. We always had constant casualties. Nothing more than what you went through in Korea." Alice replied.  
  
"Sounds miserable. We know you're tired Ally. It's just that we were all worried about you day and night. Too many have come home flag draped." Said Margaret.  
  
"War is a dangerous game Alice. The last thing I wanted was to hear that my best friend's grandbaby had come home dead. That would not be a funeral I would wish to attend." BJ responded.  
  
"I know. I had to pronounce a lot of those fatalities when I was over there."  
  
"How well did you learn to live with the wounded?" Radar questioned.  
  
"I didn't get used to it. I had to tolerate it and then I cried after nearly every surgery session. It caused me to throw up a lot too."  
  
"That would explain your weight loss." Colonel Potter said concerned.  
  
"I'm home. That's all that matters."  
  
"You got that right kid." Klinger said excited  
  
Then the whole house cried on its foundations. The people inside poured their tears out for the soldiers who would never come home alive. Next, they cried for those who were still in Iraq and other parts of the world.  
  
"Welcome home Alice." They chorused again  
  
"It's just a temporary welcome home." She whispered so that no one could hear.  
  
"Let's have cake. There is no reason to spoil this happy time." Igor said while he prepared the food.  
  
In the back of her mind, Alice could not find the heart to tell them that she would have to Iraq in a few months. She couldn't break her Grandpa's heart again or his friends. It was better to cling to them while she could. There was no way that she could predict if she would come home next time flag draped or flag waving. Life was precious and so Alice made her decision to spend what time she had with her friends and family while death would have to wait. War was ugly and everyone here knew that.  
  
** Finished **


End file.
